Angami Phizo, 83; Fought for Secession In North India State

AP

Published: May 4, 1990

LONDON, May 3—
Angami Zapu Phizo, who fought for independence for the northeastern Indian state of Nagaland and was condemned to death in absentia, died in British exile on Monday, officials at the Indian High Commission said today. He was 83 years old.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, the officials said the cause of death was not disclosed.

Mr. Phizo, chief of Nagaland's Angami tribe, had been in exile since 1960 when he fled Indian troops sent to the mountainous state on the Burmese border.

Mr. Phizo cooperated with the Japanese in World War II in their failed campaign to overthrow British colonial rule in India. Later, he petitioned Mohandas K. Gandhi to support the Naga claim for independence but failed to gain Gandhi's support.

A Part of Assam

After India gained independence from British rule in 1947, Nagaland was made a part of the Indian state of Assam. In response, Mr. Phizo founded the Naga National Council, with himself as president. It demanded a separate Naga homeland and organized armed resistance against Indian forces.

The Government of independent India's first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, initially held talks with Mr. Phizo. But later it sent Indian soldiers to Nagaland to fight the guerrillas and Mr. Phizo was condemned to death in absentia for murder and declaring war on the Indian state.

Mr. Phizo fled to Zurich and in 1960 came to London.

Nagaland was officially inaugurated as a separate state of the Indian Union in 1963. But many Nagas remained dissatisfied, and fighting between Naga guerrillas and Indian forces resumed in 1972 and still continues.